An embedded system is a specialized computer system—a combination of a computer processor, computer memory, and input/output peripheral devices—that has a dedicated function within a larger mechanical or electronic system. It is embedded as part of a complete device often including electrical or electronic hardware and mechanical parts. Because an embedded system typically controls physical operations of the machine that it is embedded within, it often has real-time computing constraints. Embedded systems control many devices in common use. In 2009, it was estimated that ninety-eight percent of all microprocessors manufactured were used in embedded systems.
OpenStep is an object-oriented application programming interface (API) specification developed by NeXT. It provides a framework for building graphical user interfaces (GUIs) and developing software applications. OpenStep was designed to be platform-independent, allowing developers to write code that could run on multiple operating systems, including NeXTSTEP, Windows NT, and various Unix-based systems. It has influenced the development of other GUI frameworks, such as Cocoa for macOS, and GNUstep.
In computing, cross-platform software is computer software that is designed to work in several computing platforms. Some cross-platform software requires a separate build for each platform, but some can be directly run on any platform without special preparation, being written in an interpreted language or compiled to portable bytecode for which the interpreters or run-time packages are common or standard components of all supported platforms.
An object-oriented operating system is an operating system that is designed, structured, and operated using object-oriented programming principles.
An Embedded Operating System (EOS) is an operating system designed specifically for embedded computer systems. These systems aim to enhance functionality and reliability to perform dedicated tasks. When the multitasking method employed allows for timely task execution, such an OS may qualify as a real-time operating system (RTOS).
The Embedded Configurable Operating System (eCos) is a free and open-source real-time operating system intended for embedded systems and applications which need only one process with multiple threads. It is designed to be customizable to precise application requirements of run-time performance and hardware needs. It is implemented in the programming languages C and C++ and has compatibility layers and application programming interfaces for Portable Operating System Interface (POSIX) and The Real-time Operating system Nucleus (TRON) variant μITRON. eCos is supported by popular SSL/TLS libraries such as wolfSSL, thus meeting all standards for embedded security.
Hardware abstractions are sets of routines in software that provide programs with access to hardware resources through programming interfaces. The programming interface allows all devices in a particular class C of hardware devices to be accessed through identical interfaces even though C may contain different subclasses of devices that each provide a different hardware interface.
JavaOS is a discontinued operating system based on a Java virtual machine. It was originally developed by Sun Microsystems. Unlike Windows, macOS, Unix, or Unix-like systems which are primarily written in the C programming language, JavaOS is primarily written in Java. It is now considered a legacy system.
OpenMAX, often shortened as "OMX", is a non-proprietary and royalty-free cross-platform set of C-language programming interfaces. It provides abstractions for routines that are especially useful for processing of audio, video, and still images. It is intended for low power and embedded system devices that need to efficiently process large amounts of multimedia data in predictable ways, such as video codecs, graphics libraries, and other functions for video, image, audio, voice and speech.
HAL is a software subsystem for UNIX-like operating systems providing hardware abstraction.
A Bluetooth stack is software that is an implementation of the Bluetooth protocol stack.
ChibiOS/RT is a compact and fast real-time operating system supporting multiple architectures and released under a mix of the GNU General Public License version 3 (GPL3) and the Apache License 2.0. It is developed by Giovanni Di Sirio.
Binary-code compatibility is a property of a computer system, meaning that it can run the same executable code, typically machine code for a general-purpose computer central processing unit (CPU), that another computer system can run. Source-code compatibility, on the other hand, means that recompilation or interpretation is necessary before the program can be run on the compatible system.
An embedded hypervisor is a hypervisor that supports the requirements of embedded systems.
Embedded Wizard is a graphical user interface tool developed and distributed by TARA Systems GmbH for creating graphical user interface (GUI) applications mainly for embedded systems, including microcontroller and microprocessor units. It provides a WYSIWYG front-end for editing graphics, effects and logic of the user interface and generates source code for particular target hardware. Embedded Wizard is independent of a specific graphics hardware, color format or input mechanism. It supports object oriented programming and does not require a Real-time operating system/Operating system, allowing GUIs to run on bare metal.
NetBSD is a free and open-source Unix-like operating system based on the Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD). It was the first open-source BSD descendant officially released after 386BSD was forked. It continues to be actively developed and is available for many platforms, including servers, desktops, handheld devices, and embedded systems.
Galileo was an unreleased 32-bit operating system that was under development by Acorn Computers as a long-term project to produce "an ultra-modern scalable, portable, multi-tasking, multi-threading, object-oriented, microkernel operating system", reportedly significant enough to Acorn's strategy to warrant a statement to the financial markets.
Genode is a free and open-source software operating system (OS) framework consisting of a microkernel abstraction layer and a set of user space components. The framework is notable as one of the few open-source operating systems not derived from a proprietary OS, such as Unix. The characteristic design philosophy is that a small trusted computing base is of primary concern in a security-oriented OS.
FatFs is a lightweight software library for microcontrollers and embedded systems that implements FAT/exFAT file system support. Written on pure ANSI C, FatFs is platform-independent and easy to port on many hardware platforms such as 8051, PIC, AVR, ARM, Z80. FatFs is designed as thread-safe and is built into ChibiOS, RT-Thread, ErlendOS, and Zephyr real-time operating systems.
OpenHarmony is a family of open-source distributed operating systems based on HarmonyOS derived from LiteOS, donated the L0-L2 branch source code by Huawei to the OpenAtom Foundation. Similar to HarmonyOS, the open-source distributed operating system is designed with a layered architecture, consisting of four layers from the bottom to the top: the kernel layer, system service layer, framework layer, and application layer. It is also an extensive collection of free software, which can be used as an operating system or in parts with other operating systems via Kernel Abstraction Layer subsystems.
